John D. Miller

John D. Miller. From the ranks of the best citizens are chosen under the provisions of Indiana laws the officials known as township trustees. In many respects this office is the most important in the entire county scheme of governments, and the men who are entrusted with the duties and responsibilities of that office are of the substantial class whose ability has been thoroughly tested and who enjoy the complete confidence of their neighbors. Among the former trustees of Union township, John D. Miller represented in the highest degree the qualities of good citizenship and of business efficiency. Mr. Miller has spent practically all his life in Huntington county, and is the owner of a fine farm of seventy-six acres, three and a half miles northwest of Markle. He is quiet, unassuming man, goes about his work without much noise, but with an efficiency which has brought him into the number of thoroughly prosperous Huntington county citizens.

John D. Miller, through both his parents, represents substantial German stock. He was born in Starke county, Ohio, August 12, 1857, a son of David and Sarah (Arnold) Miller. Both parents were likewise natives of Starke county, and were reared and married in that state. In 1857, a few weeks after John was born, the parents moved from Ohio and found a home in Huntington county in October of that year. Their location was in Union township, and they lived there until death. Of the eight children only two are living at the present time, the sister of John D. Miller being Clara, wife of George Messler, of Nebraska.

John D. Miller grew up on the old farm in Union township, and as a boy was privileged to attend the country schools about three months each year. All his schooling was obtained at the Number Eight District school in Union township. With a fair equipment in line of education he started to work for his father and lived on the farm until he was twenty-one. He then began as a renter, and gradually accumulated the capital which gave him an independent position. Mr. Miller for a number of years has been proprietor of the Lone Oak Farm, and employs his acres for the production of the general crops, and also for considerable stock raising.

On October 5, 1884, Mr. Miller married Amanda Brubaker, a daughter of Samuel and Mary Brubaker, who came from Perry county, Ohio, and were among the early settlers of Rock Creek township in Huntington county. Mrs. Miller died December 5, 1900, leaving four children, as follows: Bessie, the wife of Hugh Drabenstat; Gusta, who died February 2, 1901; Gale, who died at the age of seventeen months; and Rudy, who was born August 5, 1899. On December 14, 1902, Mr. Miller married Ida A. Keplinger, who was born in Huntington county. Mr. Miller is a Democrat in politics, and his services as trustee of Union township was from 1900 to 1905.